Gear Heads
by MACRA
Summary: There's nothing like small engine repair to bring people closer together.
Korra looked across the room. Asami was trying her best to hide it, but Korra could see the tension in her shoulders. "I bet I know what's bothering you," she said to her fiancé.

Asami stopped brushing her hair and turned to look at Korra, giving her a half smile. "You're not even going to give me a chance to pretend nothing's wrong, are you?"

"And how well does it usually work when one of us does that?" Korra asked. Asami gave her a little hand wave, apparently conceding the point. "So, can we talk about it?"

Asami sighed. "It feels like your father has been avoiding me this visit."

Korra nodded and scowled a little. "I'm getting a bit pissed at him about that."

Asami fidgeted a bit with the hairbrush and wouldn't meet her gaze. "Korra, are you sure he's OK with us?"

Korra got out of the bed, and walked over to where Asami was sitting. She bent over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Actually, Sweetest, yes I am sure he's OK with us." She sat at Asami's feet, resting an arm on her lap and looked up at her. "I'm not surprised you're worrying, because he's being such an idiot around you. But trust me, he considers you family and is actually quite pleased about it. The signs are all there."

"Such as?" Asami sounded like she desperately wanted to be convinced.

"Well, first there's that hug he gave you when he saw me wearing your necklace. Although, I was afraid he might crack a rib." Asami gave a little snort of laughter. She was already looking a little more relaxed.

"Second," Korra continued, "you might recall that on our first visit here to tell my folks that we were a couple, this room did not have this lovely double bed."

"That was his idea to get it?"

"Day after we left, according to Mom." Apparently he'd made it with his own hands, but Korra wasn't sure whether revealing _that_ little detail would actually help lower the pressure.

At any rate, Asami's smile looked a little more confident. "That's really pretty sweet."

"Finally, he doesn't glare at you suspiciously when he thinks no one's looking, the way he did with Mako." She pulled her best imitation of her Father's scowl. Asami burst out laughing. She clapped her hands over her mouth, her eye's crinkling up.

"How do you know he hasn't just got better at figuring out when someone's looking?" There was a giggle in Asami's voice.

"You are talking about the man I inherited my famous subtlety and tact from." She grinned up at her fiancé.

"OK, you've convinced me. But then why does he go so silent when we're in the same room and get out of the room at the first chance?"

Korra took a deep breath. "I think he's intimidated by you." The look of pure crogglement that parked itself on Asami's face nearly started Korra laughing again, but she held it together. "I don't mean physically," she added quickly. "I think he's intimidated by your … sophistication."

"I don't think of your Father as unsophisticated." There was a note of worry in Asami's voice, suggesting that she was attempting a mental inventory of everything she had ever said to Tonraq.

"Of course you don't." Korra grasped Asami's hand to pull in her full attention. "Cause it's not really about what you think. It's about the notion he's got stuck in his head about what you _might_ think.

"It's not really that unusual for South Tribe folk to get a bit of an inferiority complex around big city people," she continued. "I mean, we didn't even start to have proper cities until Katara's generation. And our Capital is pretty dinky compared to other nations. People worry about stuff like that."

"Wait. Your Father comes from the North. He was heir to the Chiefdom."

"Yeah, well. He still doesn't talk a lot about that, but I get the impression that even before he came South, he kind of felt like he was born on the wrong side of the world. And anyway, that probably makes it worse, because he's a rube by choice, not by birth.

"But you're not 'rubes' as you put it. You've got an amazing culture that goes back as far as the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom or anything. Why does it matter that it doesn't involve tall buildings?"

"It's not really the tall buildings so much as what they represent. It's modern. The South Pole still isn't in a lot of ways. People are simultaneously proud and ashamed of that. I'm not saying it makes sense, but it's there. And Republic City is _so_ modern. You might remember how a certain South Tribe girl with a chip on her shoulder treated you when you first met her."

"I thought there were other circumstances that lead to that," Asami said dryly, ruffling Korra's hair.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I would have been a jerk to anyone dating Mako at that time. But the _way_ I was a jerk to you pretty much sprang from the fact that you seemed so _very_ Republic City at a time when I was already feeling like a hick."

"And the fact that Miss Very Republic City thinks marrying Miss Very Southern Water Tribe is the best thing that could happen to her?"

"Well, you already know I'm convinced. For Dad, that's probably too rational an observation to make much difference, I'm afraid."

Asami sighed. "I don't know whether to be relieved that I haven't actually done anything wrong, or be appalled that there's nothing I can see to fix it."

"You two haven't really had much chance to spend time together when there wasn't a crisis going on. I think he just needs more time seeing you being a normal person."

"Which is going to be difficult if he keeps avoiding me."

It was Korra's turn to sigh. "Yeah, we're going to have to do something about that."

* * *

Vacations were the one time when Korra would actually get up before Asami. So while Asami stayed snuggled under as many extra blankets as possible, Korra went out to give Naga some exercise.

She pushed her Dad's motor sled out of the shed and hopped on. "Wanna chase, girl?" Naga wagged her tail and hunkered down, ready to spring after her. Korra gunned the sled with a whoop and headed out into the wastes, Naga close behind.

Naga had developed a taste for chasing vehicles in Republic City. It had taken a great deal of training for Korra to teach her to only chase something she or Asami was driving. Before that, Naga had caused quite a few scares, and Lin had sent Mako around to relay complaints more than once. "Besides," Asami had said, "what if she catches one? I don't want a strange Satomobile buried in our back yard."

Korra pulled to a stop on a cliff edge overlooking the sea. Naga bounded up and licked her face. She gave her pet a big hug. "What am I gonna do, girl? This is going to be a long visit if I can't get Dad to shape up. I know the two of them will get on great, if he'd just stop worrying and give it a chance. Got any ideas?" Naga cocked her head quizzically. "Yeah, I didn't think so." Korra gazed out at the sea for a while. "Me neither."

Korra decided that she had better head back for breakfast. She turned the ignition key on the sled, forgetting that she had just left the motor idling. The starter made a nasty grinding noise. She winced. "Dad would be horrified." She paused. She looked at Naga, a grin starting to spread on her face. "Actually, Asami would too. C'mon, girl. Big sis has got a plan."

* * *

"Hey, Dad. The sled was making kind of a funny noise when I was out with Naga."

Korra's father was seated at the kitchen table, finishing up his breakfast fish. "Oh, really. That's strange. It seemed fine yesterday."

"Huh. I wonder if I did something wrong. Oh, well. It's probably nothing. Just thought I'd mention it." She plopped down in a chair and gave her Mother a big smile before starting her own breakfast.

A look of worry started to settle on her Dad's face as he contemplated what Korra might have done to his prize sled. "Oh, well. Since you mention it, maybe I could pop out to the shed and take a look. Just to be on the safe side." He avoided looking at Senna, who was giving both him and Korra an exasperated glare. He shot a slightly guilty glance in the direction of the bed room from which Asami had yet to emerge. He got to his feet and headed toward the door. "I, uh, should be back in by lunch time." He slipped out.

"Honestly, Korra," her Mother said. "What were you thinking? It's going to be hard enough getting him to spend time with Asami when they're in the house together. You just gave him an excuse to hide in the shed for half the day. At least."

Korra grinned at her. "Don't worry, Mom. He's played right into my hands."

* * *

Asami came out of the bedroom, dressed but still yawning. She walked into the kitchen to see Korra and Senna chatting. To her disappointment, Tonraq was nowhere to be seen.

"Good morning, Asami," Senna said. "Would you like eggs or fish for breakfast?"

"Whatever you had is fine," she said.

Korra looked at the clock and made a tsking noise. "Eight o'clock. Is that your idea of sleeping in? You're slacking at your slacking off."

Asami stared at her for a moment. "I don't have enough caffeine in me right now to decide whether that made sense."

"There's coffee in the pot," said Senna as she got Asami's fish ready. "But I can save you time and tell you, no, it didn't make sense."

"Hey!" Korra protested, laughing.

Asami took a sip of her coffee and sat down, sighing with contentment. Senna set a plate with a smoked fish on a bed of fresh seaweed in front of her. Though the Water Tribe notion of a good breakfast still seemed strange to her, the smell was mouth-watering. Senna sat down again as she began to eat.

The conversation during her breakfast was pleasant. The only drawback was the continued absence of Tonraq. After she had finished and Korra had snatched up her plate for cleaning, Asami started to wonder if it would be OK to ask after him.

At that moment, Korra turned away from the sink and snapped her fingers. "Oh, I just thought. Dad's out in the shed, and I don't think he has any coffee. Asami, would you mind taking a thermos out to him?"

Asami blinked at her. "Uh, sure." Korra handed her the flask and two cups. "What's the second cup for?"

"Well, it's cold out there, you know," Korra said. "You might need a warm-up."

"What are you up to, Korra?"

"What makes you think I'm up to something?" Korra asked. Even if the exaggerated innocence hadn't been a clue, Senna gave the game away by snorting into her own coffee cup.

"Aren't you the one remarking last night that you don't really do subtle?" Asami asked, but she pulled her jacket from the peg by the kitchen door and made ready to go out.

The shed wasn't far from the house, but the cold was pretty penetrating, at least for Asami's Fire Nation blood. She knocked on the door, shivering. Tonraq looked surprised when he opened the door, but invited her in hurriedly.

The shed itself was surprisingly nice and toasty. It was really more of a small garage than anything else. Tonraq's motor sled had the engine cover taken off, and it looked like he was in the process of working on it. She noted with approval the orderly way in which he laid out both his tools and the parts that he had removed. The scent of motor oil that filled the air was … well, as strange as it sounded, the only word for it to her mind was 'homey.'"

"Korra thought you might want some coffee," she said hoisting the flask by way of explanation.

"Oh, well it was kind of you to bring it out here," Tonraq seemed ill-at-ease, but after Korra's remarks the last night, Asami realized that it did seem more like embarrassment than anything else.

"Korra said that she thought the engine was sounding funny," Tonraq continued. "I can't hear anything wrong myself, but it's about time for some routine maintenance, so I thought…" He looked around at the disassembled state of the engine and rubbed the back of his neck. "I might have got a little carried away."

Asami laughed. "Korra and motors don't always get on. It's possible that the funny sound was 'running.'" Tonraq actually grinned at that. "Do you need a hand?" she asked.

Tonraq looked surprised at the offer. "Oh, you're on vacation. It's really not fair to put you to work."

"Reading financial reports is work. Attending committee meetings is work." Tonraq gave a sympathetic groan. "This," she said gesturing at the sled, "is the sort of thing I do to relax."

A speculative look came over Tonraq's face as he digested this. He looked at the sled, rubbing his chin. "Well…"

* * *

A few hours later, Senna went out to check on them. She returned to the house shaking her head in wonder. "Well, your idea worked like a charm. Asami was up to her elbows in the sled, and your father was sitting on the floor cleaning some gizmo. They were sharing a laugh at your inability to tell tools apart."

Korra rolled her eyes. "Hand someone a screwdriver instead of a wrench one time…" Her Mother seemed to be having a hard time keeping a straight face. "OK, there might have been a few other incidents. Each."

"Anyway, you may have done too good of a job. We might not see them back in the house before dinner time."

Korra leaned back in her chair, feeling satisfied. "So, what do you want to do today, Mom?"


End file.
